Detective Sgt. Loran "Butch" Baker, right, with his son, Adam, when Adam joined the Santa Cruz Police as a Community Service Officer in September of 2010. Loran Baker was killed in the line of duty on Feb. 26, 2012.

Santa Cruz Mayor Hilary Bryant bows her head as Police Chief Kevin Vogel identifies the two detectives who were killed in the line of duty.

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

Santa Cruz Mayor Hilary Bryant bows her head as Police Chief Kevin...

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A California Highway Patrol officer loads an ammunition clip into his rifle near the shooting scene in Santa Cruz, Calif., where two Santa Cruz Police detectives were shot and killed Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013. The shooting in the community about 60 miles south of San Francisco took place as police were investigating a report of a sexual assault, Santa Cruz County Sheriff Phil Wowak said. A suspect was shot while police were in pursuit of the shooter, the sheriff said. Authorities said that person also died. (AP Photos/Santa Cruz Sentinel, Dan Coyro)

Photo: Dan Coyro, Associated Press

A California Highway Patrol officer loads an ammunition clip into...

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Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Deputy member of the SWAT team gears up to enter the shooting scene Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013 where two Santa Cruz Police detectives were shot and killed. The shooting in the community about 60 miles south of San Francisco took place as police were investigating a report of a sexual assault, Santa Cruz County Sheriff Phil Wowak said. A suspect was shot while police were in pursuit of the shooter, the sheriff said. Authorities said that person also died. (AP Photos/Santa Cruz Sentinel, Dan Coyro)

Photo: Dan Coyro, Associated Press

Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Deputy member of the SWAT team gears up...

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Santa Cruz County District Attorney Bob Lee confers with members of the Sheriff's Department near the shooting scene in Santa Cruz, Calif., Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013. Two Santa Cruz police officers were shot and killed Tuesday while investigating a sexual assault, and a suspect was also fatally shot, authorities said. (AP Photo/The Santa Cruz Sentinel, Dan Coyro)

Photo: Dan Coyro, Associated Press

Santa Cruz County District Attorney Bob Lee confers with members...

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A police officer secures the shooting scene near N. Branciforte Avenue and Doyle Street Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013 in Santa Cruz, Calif., where two Santa Cruz Police Detectives were shot and killed. The officers were killed while investigating a sexual assault, and a suspect was also fatally shot, authorities said. (AP Photo/Thomas Mendoza)

Photo: Thomas Mendoza, Associated Press

A police officer secures the shooting scene near N. Branciforte...

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An FBI investigator gestures back from N. Branciforte Avenue in Santa Cruz, Calif., on Tuesday night, February 26, 2013, after an officer involved shooting left two Santa Cruz police officers and a suspect dead near the intersection of Doyle Street and N. Branciforte Ave.

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

An FBI investigator gestures back from N. Branciforte Avenue in...

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A Santa Cruz Sherriff's officer lets a vehicle leave Doyle Street as the investigation continued in Santa Cruz, Calif., on Tuesday night, February 26, 2013, after an officer involved shooting left two Santa Cruz police officers and a suspect dead near the intersection of Doyle Street and N. Branciforte Ave.

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

A Santa Cruz Sherriff's officer lets a vehicle leave Doyle Street...

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An investigator (unclear which agency) speaks on the phone on N. Branciforte Avenue in Santa Cruz, Calif., on Tuesday night, February 26, 2013, after an officer involved shooting left two Santa Cruz police officers and a suspect dead near the intersection of Doyle Street and N. Branciforte Ave.

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

An investigator (unclear which agency) speaks on the phone on N....

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Several police agencies investigated a crime scene near Doyle Street and N. Branciforte Avenue in Santa Cruz, Calif., on Tuesday night, February 26, 2013, after an officer involved shooting left two Santa Cruz police officers and a suspect dead near the intersection.

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

Several police agencies investigated a crime scene near Doyle...

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Several police agencies investigated a crime scene near Doyle Street and N. Branciforte Avenue in Santa Cruz, Calif., on Tuesday night, February 26, 2013, after an officer involved shooting left two Santa Cruz police officers and a suspect dead near the intersection.

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

Several police agencies investigated a crime scene near Doyle...

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Santa Cruz County Sheriff Phil Wowak speaks to the media about the ongoing investigation in Santa Cruz, Calif., on Tuesday, February 26, 2013, following the shooting death of two Santa Cruz police officers and a suspect near the intersection of Doyle Street and N. Branciforte Ave.

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

Santa Cruz County Sheriff Phil Wowak speaks to the media about the...

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Santa Cruz Police Chief Kevin Vogel speaks to the media and identifies the two SCPD officers killed in Santa Cruz, Calif., on Tuesday, February 26, 2013, after an officer involved shooting left two the two police officers and a suspect dead near the intersection of Doyle Street and N. Branciforte Ave.

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

Santa Cruz Police Chief Kevin Vogel speaks to the media and...

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A California Highway Patrol officer carries his rifle near the shooting scene in Santa Cruz, Calif., where two Santa Cruz Police detectives were shot and killed Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013. The shooting in the community about 60 miles south of San Francisco took place as police were investigating a report of a sexual assault, Santa Cruz County Sheriff Phil Wowak said. A suspect was shot while police were in pursuit of the shooter, the sheriff said. Authorities said that person also died. (AP Photos/Santa Cruz Sentinel, Dan Coyro)

Photo: Dan Coyro, Associated Press

A California Highway Patrol officer carries his rifle near the...

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Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Deputies prepare to join officers from other agencies in securing the shooting scene near N. Branciforte Avenue and Doyle Street Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013 in Santa Cruz, Calif., where two Santa Cruz Police Detectives were shot and killed. The shooting in the community about 60 miles south of San Francisco took place as police were investigating a report of a sexual assault, Santa Cruz County Sheriff Phil Wowak said. A suspect was shot while police were in pursuit of the shooter, the sheriff said. Authorities said that person also died. (AP Photos/Santa Cruz Sentinel, Dan Coyro)

Photo: Dan Coyro, Associated Press

Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Deputies prepare to join officers from...

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Police secure the scene near N. Branciforte Avenue and Doyle Street in Santa Cruz, Calif., where two Santa Cruz Police Detectives were shot and killed Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013. The officers were killed while investigating a sexual assault, and a suspect was also fatally shot, authorities said. (AP Photo/Thomas Mendoza)

Police secure the scene near N. Branciforte Avenue and Doyle Street in Santa Cruz, Calif., where two Santa Cruz Police Detectives were shot and killed Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013. The officers were killed while investigating a sexual assault, and a suspect was also fatally shot, authorities said. (AP Photo/Thomas Mendoza)

Police Chief Kevin Vogel confirmed that the officers had been killed while trying to arrest the suspect.

Struggling to contain his emotions, Vogel told reporters, "We lost two exceptionally fine officers today. ... We need to figure out a way to bring our department together and get through this. It's a horrible, horrible day for the Santa Cruz Police Department and the community of Santa Cruz."

The officers, identified by Vogel as Detective Sgt. Loran "Butch" Baker and Detective Elizabeth Butler, were answering a call at 801 N. Branciforte Ave., about a mile northeast of downtown Santa Cruz, at around 3:30 p.m. when the suspect opened fire, said April Skalland, a spokeswoman for the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Department.

"They got into a shooting, two officers were killed, and so was the suspect," Skalland said.

Baker, a 28-year veteran of the Santa Cruz Police Department, leaves behind a wife, two daughters and a son who is a community service officer with the Santa Cruz Police Department, officials said.

Butler, who had been with the force for 10 years, leaves behind her partner and two young sons.

Suspect identified

The suspect the officers attempted to contact was identified as Jeremy Peter Goulet, 35, of Santa Cruz.

Police wouldn't say why the detectives went to the house Tuesday. Officers who responded to reports of shots being fired arrived at the scene to find the two detectives, who were dressed in plain clothes, shot outside the residence.

Police located Goulet nearby on Stanford Avenue, which is one street over, neighbors said. The sheriff said gunfire was exchanged at a second location and Goulet was killed.

Police said they didn't think anyone else was in the house at the time of the shootings.

Late Tuesday nearby residents were still not being allowed to return home. Three nearby schools were locked down for a time after the gunfire broke out, Skalland said.

One woman saw the episode from the window of a nearby home. Jazmin Boles, 23, of Santa Cruz said she was visiting a friend.

"I was walking up my friend's stairs," she said. "It sounded like fireworks and I was thinking, 'Why would it be fireworks?' "

She looked out the window and saw police converging on the street. Officers in SWAT gear yelled at her to get down. Then she heard 20 more shots. Boles said she saw police pointing their weapons toward a nearby home.

First contact

Officers had first come to the house on North Branciforte Avenue early Friday and arrested Goulet for being drunk and disorderly, police records show.

Santa Cruz sheriff's records indicated he had been booked and recorded his occupation as barista. He was held for about seven hours before posting $250 bail.

California state records show Goulet as a licensed pilot living in Santa Cruz. He had previously been living with his twin brother at an apartment on Benvenue Avenue in Berkeley.

In 2008, Goulet was convicted on charges of peeping at a woman as she showered in her condominium in Portland, Ore. He was given probation for the misdemeanor offense and ordered to undergo sex-offender treatment after he admitted he used his cell phone to video women surreptitiously, according to published reports.

He was also convicted of carrying a weapon without a permit, although jurors cleared him of an attempted murder charge after they concluded that his weapon had gone off accidentally during a struggle with the boyfriend of the woman in the shower.

He was later jailed following a dispute with his probation officer and, rather than undergo the court-ordered sex offender treatment, agreed to serve two years in jail.

His father, Ronald Goulet of Rosamond (Kern County), said late Tuesday that Jeremy Goulet texted Tuesday afternoon to his twin brother, Jeffery Goulet, that he was in trouble.

"Why was he on the run? I'm just trying to hang with it, to make sense of it," Ronald Goulet said, adding that no one in the family had been able to reach him since. He did suggest that it might have been because he was reluctant to return to jail, after having served time in Oregon.

'He does have guns'

The elder Goulet said his son had recently moved to Santa Cruz, where he loved the beach.

"He's never been convicted of a felony," he said. He said he understood that police had wanted to talk to his son about allegedly breaking into the home of a Santa Cruz co-worker and making inappropriate advances to her.

He said his son had never been violent. "He does have guns - he's a collector and he does target practice. But I don't think he's going to be shooting anyone."

A man who lived below Jeremy Goulet in the Berkeley apartment building described him as "super, super creepy."

Andrew Morrison, 22, said Goulet had been living with his brother in the upstairs unit but moved out not long after Morrison and his wife discovered his Oregon conviction. They were doing research on him because of his strange behavior, Morrison said.

"I didn't know until recently that he was a sex offender," he said.

Goulet had worked at Cole Coffee in Berkeley, he said, but lost his job recently and moved away.

"He told me he was in the military and was stationed in Guatemala," he said.